A 37-year-old man was rescued by Fire and Emergency Services Department personnel and BBMP marshals from a pool of sludge in Varthur lake. Srinivas, a resident of Balagere near the lake, went to the lake around 4 p.m. on Thursday to retrieve his cattle.
“Due to heavy rains over the past few days and ongoing restoration work, there are sludgy patches in the lake. Srinivas was trapped in one of the spots. We saw him shouting for help. We alerted the fire and emergency personnel,” said Wesly Fernandes, a BBMP marshal.
Narasimha Murthy, a Fire Department personnel who was part of the rescue operation, said that Srinivas was stuck around 150 metres away from the edge of the lake. “At one point, he was neck-deep in water. We used a rope to rescue him,” he said.
Jagadish Reddy of Varthur Rising said that such instances are a regular occurrence as cattle often venture into the lake bed.